John Evelyn - An Apologie for the Royal Party (1659); and A Panegyric to Charles the Second (1661)
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John Evelyn >> An Apologie for the Royal Party (1659); and A Panegyric to Charles the Second (1661)
{Transcriber's notes:
All material added by the transcriber is surrounded by braces {}.
The original has many inconsistent spellings. A few corrections have
been made for obvious typographical errors; they have been noted
individually at the end of the text. Some words are unclear; they have
also been noted.
The caret character (^) indicates that the remainder of the word is
superscripted. The word Tyranny (Tyrannie, Tyrannies) is sometimes spelled
with only one 'n', the other being denoted by a diacritical mark. The
spelling has been regularised to 'nn'.
The original contains some handwritten corrections and additions (see the
Introduction for details). They are represented [HW: like this].
Sidenotes are represented [SN: like this]. }
The Augustan Reprint Society
John Evelyn
_An Apologie for the Royal Party_ (1659); and
_A Panegyric to Charles the Second_ (1661)
With an Introduction by
Geoffrey Keynes
Publication Number 28
Los Angeles
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
University of California
1951
_GENERAL EDITORS_
H. RICHARD ARCHER, _Clark Memorial Library_
RICHARD C. BOYS, _University of Michigan_
EDWARD NILES HOOKER, _University of California, Los Angeles_
JOHN LOFTIS, _University of California, Los Angeles_
_ASSISTANT EDITOR_
W. EARL BRITTON, _University of Michigan_
_ADVISORY EDITORS_
EMMETT L. AVERY, _State College of Washington_
BENJAMIN BOYCE, _Duke University_
LOUIS I. BREDVOLD, _University of Michigan_
CLEANTH BROOKS, _Yale University_
JAMES L. CLIFFORD, _Columbia University_
ARTHUR FRIEDMAN, _University of Chicago_
LOUIS A. LANDA, _Princeton University_
SAMUEL H. MONK, _university Of Minnesota_
ERNEST MOSSNER, _University of Texas_
JAMES SUTHERLAND, _Queen Mary College, London_
H. T. SWEDENBERG, JR., _University of California, Los Angeles_
INTRODUCTION
On October 24, 1659, a quarto pamphlet was published in London with the
following title: "The Army's Plea for Their present Practice: tendered to
the consideration of all ingenuous and impartial men. Printed and
published by special command. London, Printed by Henry Hills, Printer to
the Army, dwelling in Aldersgate Street next door to the Peacock. 1659".
Three days afterwards, on October 27, John Evelyn had finished writing an
answer, which was published a week later, on November 4, under the title:
"An Apologie for the Royal Party ... With a Touch At the pretended Plea
for the Army. Anno Dom. MDCLIX". No author's name, printer or place was
given. Evelyn afterwards made the note in his Diary under the date
November 7, 1659, that is, three days after the actual publication: "Was
publish'd my bold Apologie for the King in His time of danger, when it was
capital to speak or write in favour of him. It was twice printed, so
universaly it took."[1] Evelyn was by conviction an ardent royalist, but
by temperament he was peaceable, and the publication of this pamphlet was
a courageous act on his part, involving considerable risks.
The _Apologie for the Royal Party_ contains an eloquent and outspoken
attack upon the parliamentary party, the depth of the author's feelings
making his style of writing more effective than it usually was.
Events were at this date nearing their climax, and Evelyn, soon after the
publication of his pamphlet, made persistent attempts to induce Colonel
Henry Morley, then Lieutenant of the Tower of London, to declare for the
King. In the edition of Baker's _Chronicle of the Kings of England_,
edited by Edward Phillips, 1665, is given the following account of the
negotiations (p. 736): "Mr. Evelyn gave him [Col. Morley] some visits to
attemper his affection by degrees to a confidence in him, & then by
consequence to ingage him in his designes; and to induce him the more
powerfully thereunto, he put into his hands an excellent and unanswerable
hardy treatise by him written and severall times reprinted, intituled _An
Apology for the Royall Party_, which he backed with so good Argument and
dextrous Addresses in the prosecution of them, that, after some private
discourse, the Colonel was so well inclin'd, as to recommend to him the
procurement of his Majestie's Grace for him, his Brother-in-law Mr. Fagg,
and one or two more of his Relations". Phillips added an account of a
letter written by Evelyn to Colonel Morley, and gave him great credit for
the influence which he exerted, though Evelyn endorsed a draft of the
narrative with a statement saying there "was too much said concerning me".
Nevertheless part of the narrative was confirmed by Evelyn when he wrote
on the title-page of the copy of the pamphlet here reproduced: "Delivered
to Coll. Morley a few daies after his contest w^th Lambert in the palace
yard by J. Evelyn". The "contest" with General Lambert took place on
October 12 or 13 when Morley, pistol in hand, refused to allow him at the
head of his troops to pass through the Palace Yard.
Evelyn also wrote on the title-page of this copy of his pamphlet "three
tymes printed". In fact there were four printings, all described in the
writer's _John Evelyn, a Study in Bibliophily & a Bibliography of his
Writings_, New York, The Grolier Club, 1937, the one here reproduced being
the fourth and final form. Nevertheless all four issues are now extremely
scarce, the first printing being known in three copies (one in the United
States), the second in seven (two in the United States), the third in one,
and the fourth in one. This apparently unique relic of Evelyn's bold
gesture on behalf of his King is in the writer's possession and is still
as issued, edges untrimmed and with its eight leaves stitched in a
contemporary paper wrapper. It has been reprinted only in Evelyn's
_Miscellaneous Writings_, 1825, pp. 169-192.
* * * * *
When Charles II actually returned to England in 1660 Evelyn's feelings
were deeply stirred. He had played some part in the restoration of the
monarchy, and, with his literary instinct, naturally felt impelled to be
among those who wished to present the King with an address on the day of
his Coronation. This took place on April 23, 1661, and on the following
day Evelyn recorded in his Diary: "I presented his Ma^tie with his
Panegyric in the Private Chamber, which he was pleas'd to accept most
graciously: I gave copies to the Lord Chancellor and most of the noblemen
who came to me for it."[2] Evelyn's _Panegyric_ was thus distributed
privately and no doubt in small number, so that it is today extremely
uncommon, being known only in five copies, not more than one of which is
in the United States of America. Evelyn possessed a copy in 1687 according
to his library catalogue compiled in that year, and a copy (not
necessarily the same one) is now among his books in the library of Christ
Church, Oxford, but it seems to have been unknown in 1825 and was not
included in the _Miscellaneous Writings_. William Upcott, the editor, in
fact erroneously identified the _Panegyric_ with the anonymous piece in
folio: "A Poem upon his Majesties Coronation ... Being S^t Georges day ...
London, Printed for Gabriel Bedel and Thomas Collins ... 1661". This
mistake was not put right until a copy of the true _Panegyric_ with
Evelyn's name on the title-page was acquired for the British Museum in
1927 from the Britwell Court Library. The copy here reproduced is in the
writer's collection, and has a few corrections in Evelyn's hand: (a)
_XXXIII. of April_, on title-page corrected to _XXIII_; (b) p.6. l.18
_Family_ altered to _Firmament_; (c) p.8. l.16 from bottom _suffer_
altered to _surfeit_.
When the _Panegyric_ was identified it was realised that it was not a
poem, but an eloquent and extravagant composition in prose, in which
Evelyn invested Charles II with every conceivable virtue and all wisdom.
This was no doubt written with sincere enthusiasm, though Evelyn suffered
a profound disillusionment in later years; and if he ever read his
effusion again it must have caused him some distress. The _Panegyric_ is
now reprinted for the first time.
Geoffrey Keynes
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Evelyn's _Diary_, ed. Wheatley, vol. II, p. 108.
[2] Evelyn's _Diary_, ed. Wheatley, vol. II, p. 130.
AN
A P O L O G Y
FOR THE
ROYAL PARTY:
Written in a
L E T T E R
To a Person of the Late
COUNCEL of STATE.
* * * * *
_By a Lover of Peace and of his Country._
* * * * *
WITH
A T O U C H
At the Pretended
PLEA FOR THE ARMY.
[HW: three tymes printed.]
* * * * *
[HW: Delivered to Coll: Morley, a few daies
after his contest w^th Lambert in the
Palace Yard: by J. Evelyn:]
* * * * *
_Anno Dom. MDCLIX._
AN
A P O L O G I E
FOR THE
R O Y A L P A R T Y:
Written in a LETTER to a Person of the late
_COUNCEL_ of _STATE_,
By a Lover of Peace and of his Countrey:
With a Touch at the _pretended Plea_ for the Army.
_SIR_,
The many Civilities which you are still pleased to continue to me, and my
very great desire to answer them in the worthiest testimonies of my zeal
for your service, must make my best Apology for this manner of Addresse;
if out of an extream affection for your noblest Interest, I seem
transported a little upon your first reflections, and am made to despise
the consequence of entertaining you with such Truths, as are of the
greatest danger to my self; but of no less import to your happiness, and,
which carry with them the most indelible Characters of my Friendship. For
if as the Apostle affirms, _For a good man, some would even dare to dy_,
why should my Charity be prejudged, if hoping to convert you from the
errour of your way, I despair not of rendring you the Person for whose
preservation there will be nothing too dear for me to expose?
I might with reason beleeve that the first election of the Party wherein
you stood engaged, proceeded from inexperience and the mistake of your
zeal; not to say from your compliance to the passions of others; because I
both knew your education, and how obsequious you have alwayes shewed your
self to those who had then the direction of you: But, when after the
example of their conversion, upon discovery of the Impostures which
perverted them; and the signal indignation of God, upon the several
periods which your eyes have lately beheld, of the bloudiest Tyrannies,
and most prodigious oppressors that ever any age of the world produc'd, I
see you still persist in your course, and that you have turn'd about with
every revolution which has hapned: when I consider, what contradictions
you have swallowed, how deeply you have ingaged, how servilely you have
flatter'd, and the base and mean submissions by which you have
dishonour'd your self, and stained your noble Family; not to mention the
least refinement of your religion or morality (besides that you have still
preserved a civility for me, who am ready to acknowledge it, and never
merited other from you) I say, when I seriously reflect upon all this; I
cannot but suspect the integrity of your procedure, deplore the sadness of
your condition, and resolve to attempt the discovery of it to you; by all
the instances, which an affection perfectly touch't with a zeal for your
eternall interest can produce. And who can tell, but it may please
Almighty God, to affect _you_ yet by a weak instrument, who have resisted
so many powerfull indications of his displeasure at your proceedings, by
the event of things?
For, since you are apt to recriminate, and after you have boasted of the
prosperity or your cause, and the thriving of your Wickedness (an Argument
farr better becoming a _Mahumetan_ then a _Christian_) let us state the
matter a little, and compare particulars together; let us go back to the
source, and search the very principles; and then see, if ever any cause
had like success indeed; and whether it be a just reproach to your
Enemies, that the judgments of God have begun with them, whilst you know
not yet, where they may determine.
First then, be pleased to look North-wards upon your Brethren the Scots,
who (being first instigated by that crafty _Cardinal_ [SN: Richlieu] to
disturb the groth of the incomparable _Church of England_, and so
consequently the tranquility of a Nation, whose expedition at the Isle of
_Ree_, gave terrour to the French) made Reformation their pretence, to
gratifie their own avarice, introduce themselves, and a more then
_Babylonish_ Tyranny, imposing upon the Church and state, beyond all
impudence or example. _I_ say, look upon what they have gotten, by
deceiving their Brethren, selling their King, betraying his Son, and by
all their perfidie; but a slavery more then _Egyptian_, and an infamy as
unparallel'd, as their treason and ingratitude.
Look neerer home on those whom they had ingaged amongst us here, & tell me
if there be a Person of them left, that can shew me his prize, unless it
be that of his Sacriledg, which he, or his Nephews must certainly vomite
up again: What is become of this ignorant and furious zeal, this pretence
of an universall perfection in the Religious and the Secular, after all
that Blood and Treasure, Rapine and Injustice, which has been exhausted,
and perpetrated by these Sons of Thunder? Where is the King, whom they
swear to make so glorious, but meant it in his _Martyrdome_? Where is the
Classis, and the Assembly, the Lay-elder; all that geare of Scottish
discipline, and the fine new Trinkets of Reformation? Were not all these
taken out of their hand, while now they were in the height of their pride
and triumph? And their dull Generall made to serve the execution of their
Sovereign, and then to be turn'd off himself, as a property no more of use
to their designes? Their riches and their strength in which they trusted,
and the Parliament which they even idoliz'd, in sum, the prey they had
contended for at the expence of so much sin and damnation, seizd upon by
those very instruments, which they had rais'd to serve their insatiable
avarice, and prodigious disloyalty. For so it pleased God to chastise
their implacable persecution of an excellent Prince, with a slavery under
such a _Tyrant_, as not being contented to butcher even some upon the
Scaffold, sold divers of them for slaves, and others he exild into cruell
banishment, without pretence of Law, or the least commiseration; that
those who before had no mercy on others, might find none themselves; till
upon some hope of their repentance, and future moderation, it pleased God
to put his hook into the nostrills of that proud _Leviathan_, and send him
to his place, after he had thus mortified the fury of the Presbyterians.
For unlesse God himself should utter his voice from Heaven, _yea, and that
a mighty voice_, can there any thing in the world be more evident, then
his indignation at those wretches and barefac't Impostors, who, one after
another, usurped upon us, taking them off at the very point of aspiring,
and praecipitating the glory and ambition of these men, before those that
were, but now, their adorers, and that had prostituted their consciences
to serve their lusts? To call him the _Moses_, the _Man of God_, the
_Joshua_, the _Saviour_ of _Israel_; and after all this, to treat the
_Thing_ his son with addresses no lesse then blasphemous, whose Father (as
themselves confess to be the most infamous Hypocrite and profligate
Atheist of all the Usurpers that ever any age produc'd) had made them his
Vassalls, and would have intaild them so to his posterity for ever?
But behold the scean is again changed, not by the Royall party, the Common
Enemy, or a forreign power; but by the despicable _Rumpe_ of a Parliament,
which that _Mountebanke_ had formerly serv'd himself of, and had rais'd
him to that pitch, and investiture: But see withall, how soon these
triflers and puppets of policy are blown away, with all their pack of
modells and childish _Chimaeras_, nothing remaining of them but their
Coffine, guarded by the Souldiers at Westminster; but which is yet lesse
empty then the heads of those Polititians, which so lately seemed to fill
it.
For the rest, I despise to blot paper with a recitall of those wretched
_Interludes, Farces and Fantasms_, which appear'd in the severall
intervalls; because they were nothing but the effects of an extream
gyddiness, and unparallel'd levity. Yet these are those various
despensations and providences in your journey to that _holy land_ of
purchases and profits, to which you have from time to time appeal'd for
the justification of your proceedings, whilst they were, indeed, no other
then the manifest judgments of God upon your rebellion and your ambition:
I say nothing of your hypocriticall fasts, and pretended humiliations,
previous to the succeeding plots, and supposititious Revelations, that
_the godly might fall into the hands of your Captains_, because they were
bugbears, and became ridiculous even to the common people.
And now _Sr._ if you please, let us begin to set down the product and
survey the successe of your party and after all these faces and vertigo's
tell me ingenuously, if the single chastisment which is fallen upon one
afflicted man, and his loyall subjects, distressed by the common event of
war, want of treasure, the seizure of his Fleet, forcing him from his
City, and all the disadvantages that a perfidious people could imagine;
but in fine the crowning him with a glorious _Martyrdome_ for the Church
of God and the liberty of his people (for which his blood doth yet cry
aloud for vengeance) be comparable to the confusion which you (that have
been the conquerours) have suffered, and the slavery which you are like to
leave to the posterities which will be born but to curse you, and to groan
under the pressures which you bequeath to your own flesh & blood? For to
what a condition you have already reduced this once flourishing kingdom,
since all has been your own, let the intolerable oppressions, taxes,
Excises, sequestrations confiscations, plunders, customes, decimations,
not to mention the plate, even to very thimbles and the bodkins (for even
to these did your avarice descend) and other booties, speak. All this
dissipated and squandred away, to gratifie a few covetous and ambitious
wretches, whose appetites are as deep as hell, and as insatiable as the
grave; as if (as the Wise-man speaks) _our time here were but a market for
gain_.
Look then into the Churches, and manners of the people, even amongst your
own _Saints_, and tell me, if since _Simon Magus_ was upon the earth,
there were ever heard of so many _Schismes_, and _Heresies_, of _Jewes_
and _Socinians_, _Quakers_, _Fifth-monarchy-men_, _Arians_, _Anabaptists_,
_Independents_, and a thousand severall forts of _Blasphemies_ and
professed _Atheists_, all of them spawned under your government; and then
tell me what a Reformation of Religion you have effected?
Was there ever in the whole Earth (not to mention Christendom alone) a
perjury so prodigious, and yet so avowed as that by which you have taken
away the estate of my L. _Craven_, at which the very _Infidels_ would
blush, a _Turke_ or _Sythian_ stand amaz'd?
Under the Sun was it never heard, that a man should be condemned for
transgressing no law, but that which was made after the fact, and
abrogated after execution; that the Posterities to come might not be
witnesses of your horrid injustice: Yet thus you proceeded against my _L.
Stafford_. How many are those gallant persons whom after articles of war,
you have butchered in cold-blood, violating your promises against the
Lawes of all Nations, civill or barbarous; and yet thus you dealt in the
case of my L. _Capel_, Sr. _J. Stawel_ and others.
Is not the whole nation become sullen and proud, ignorant and suspicious,
incharitable, curst, and in fine, the most depraved and perfidious under
heaven? And whence does all this proceed, but from the effects of your own
examples, and the impunity of evill doers?
I need not tell you how long Justice has been sold by the _Committees_,
and the Chair-men, the Sequestrators and Simoniacall Tryers, not to
mention the late Courtiers, and a swarm of _Publicans_ who _have eaten up
the People as if they would eat bread_.
Will you come now to the particular mis-fortunes, and the evident hand of
God upon you for these actions (for he has not altogether left us without
some expresse witnesses of his displeasure at your doings,) Behold then
your _Essex_ and your _Warwick_, your _Ferfaix_, and your _Waller_, (whom
once your Books stiled the _Lord of Hosts_) Cashiered, Imprisoned,
Suspected and Disgraced after all their Services. _Hotham_, and his _Son_
came to the block; _Stapleton_ had the buriall of an Asse, and was thrown
into a Town Ditch; _Brookes_ and _Hamden_ signally slain in the very act
of Rebellion and Sacriledge; your atheisticall _Dorislaw_, _Ascam_ and the
Sodomiticall _Ariba_, whom though they escaped the hand of Justice, yet
_Vengeance_ would not suffer to live: What became of _Rainsborough_?
_Ireton_ perished of the Plague, and _Hoyle_ hanged himself; _Staplie_
'tis said, died mad, and _Cromwell_ in a fit of raging; and if there were
any others worthy the taking notice of, I should give you a list of their
names and of their destinies; but it was not known whence they came which
succeeded them; nor had they left any memory behind them, but for their
signal wickednesses, as he that set on fire the _Ephesian Temple_ to be
recorded a Villain to posterity. Whereas those noble souls whom your
inhumanity, (not your vertue) betrayed, gave proof of their extraction,
Innocency, Religion and Constancy under all their Tryals and Tormentors;
and those that dyed by the sword, fell in the bed of honour, and did
worthily for their Country; their _Loyalty_ and their _Religion_ will be
renowned in the History of Ages, and pretious to their memory, when your
names will rot with your Carkasses, and your remembrance be as dung upon
the face of the Earth. For there is already no place of _Europe_ where
your infamy is not spread; whilst your persecuted brethren rejoyce in
their sufferings, can abound, and can want, blush not at their actions,
nor are ashamed at their addresses; because they have suffered for that
which their Faith and their Birth, their Lawes and their Liberties have
celebrated with the most glorious Inscriptions, and Everlasting Elogies.
And if fresher instances of all these particulars be required, cast your
eye a little upon the _Armies pretended Plea_, which came lately a birding
to beat the way before them, charm the ears of the Vulgar, and captivate
the people; That after all its _pseudo-politicks_ and irreligious
principles, is at last constrained to acknowledg _your open and prodigious
violations, strange and illegal Actions, (as in termes it confesses) of
taking up Armes, Raising and Forming Armies against the King, fighting
against his Person, Imprisoning, Impeaching, Arraigning, Trying and
Executing Him: Banishing his Children, abolishing Bishops, Deans and
Chapters; taking away Kingly Government, and the House of Lords, breaking
the Crowns, selling the Jewells, Plate, Goods, Houses and Lands belonging
unto the Kings of this Nation, erecting extraordinary High Courts of
Justice, and therein Impeaching, Arraigning, condemning, and Executing
many pretended notorious Enemies, to the publick Peace; when the Lawes in
being, and the Ordinary Courts of Justice could not reach them: By strange
and unknown practises in this Nation, and not at all Justifiable by any
known Lawes and Statutes_, But by certain diabolical principles of late
distilled into some person of the Army, and which he would entitle to the
whole, who (abating some of their Commanders, that have sucked the sweet
of this Doctrine) had them never so much as entred into their thoughts,
nor could they be so depraved, though they were Masters only of the Light
of Nature to direct them. For Common sence will tell them, that whoever
are our lawful Superiours, and invested with the supreame Authority,
either by their own vertue, or the peoples due Election, have then a just
right to challenge submission to their precepts, and that we acquiesce in
their determinations; since there is in nature no other expedient to
preserve us from everlasting confusion: But it is the height of all
impertinency to conceive, that those which are a part of themselves, and
can in so great a Body, have no other interests, should (without the
manifest hand of God were in it to infatuate all your proceedings) fall
into such exorbitant contradiction to their own good, as a child of four
years old would not be guilty of; and as this Pamphleter wildly suggests
in pp. 6. 11. 27, &c. did they steer their course by the known laws of the
Land, and as obedient Subjects should do, who without the King and his
Peers, are but the Carkass of a Parliament, as destitute of the Soul which
should inform and give it being. And if so small a handful of men as
appeared in the Palace-Yard, without consent of a quarter of the English
Army, much lesse the tenthousand'th part of the Free-people that are not
clad in red, shall disturb and alter your Government when it thinks fit to
set aside a few imperious Officers, who plainly seek themselves, and
derive their Commissions from superiours to whom they swear obedience; how
can you ever hope, or live to see any government established in these
miserably abused Nations? Behold then with how weak a party you are
vanquish'd, even by those very instruments you had so long flatter'd with
the title of the _Free-people_; imputing all the direful effects of your
depraved principles to their desires, when as I dare report my self to the
ingenuity of the very Souldiers themselves, if they, who have effected all
these changes by your wretched instigations, and blind pretences, imagine
themselves the People of this Nation, but are{1} a very small portion of
them, compared to the whole, and who are maintained by them to recover,
and protect the Civill Government, according to the Good old Lawes of the
Land; not such as they themselves shall invent from Day to Day, or as the
interests of some few persons may engage them.